DNF: Life as we Knew It

I’ve decided to start a new thing where I post my DNF (Did Not Finish) books with an explanation for why I felt the need to put the book down. Then, if you LOVED the book and think that it was a huge mistake on my part to abandon it, you can try to convince me to pick it back up. Or, if you also disliked the book, you can share that as well and make me feel not-so-bad about not finishing the book! I will not post any DNF explanations for review copies, however.

So, I’ll start with the ultimate deciding factor before going into specific aspects that I didn’t like. I ultimately decided to stop at page 150 because something that just happened made me realize just how not into it I actually am. Dan said that he was working up the nerve to ask Miranda to the prom. But I thought he did that already when they were at the pool that one day. Apparently, it was just her dream and I didn’t even realize that? Okay, if I’m that uninterested in it that I’m not paying enough attention to notice whether something is a dream or actually happening, I think it’s time to stop. Especially when I’m not enjoying it for other reasons and I have debated putting it down for a while.

The writing style is very childish, which really bugs me. I mean, it is in a diary format, so it makes sense that a 16-year-old would sound that way. But, it’s kind of annoying to read. I guess I like my teen narrators to be more mature, so that it doesn’t feel like I’m reading children’s fiction. I would prefer a more mature writing style, even if it is less realistic. It would at least be more pleasurable to read. A lot of the things Miranda says are just such a childish way of thinking. It really bugs me to read. Here are some examples I found that just bothered me:

“…They don’t know how bad the damage is yet, how many countries were affected.”

“Countries?” I said. Somehow I’d forgotten there were other countries, that we shared the moon with other countries.

***

I guess I always felt even if the world came to an end, McDonald’s would still be open.

Another issue I had: I found it hard to believe that they would still have school the day after. The moon was hit by an asteroid and now it’s closer to Earth and there’s tsunamis and storms happening and killing millions of people around the world, but kids still have to go to school?!?! People should be going into survival mode, not living life as normal and as if nothing happened!

I had been wanting to put this book down for a while before I finally decided to. So, it was inevitable I guess…

I don’t think I’ll ever dislike a finished book enough to give it a 1 star rating. So, 1 star ratings are basically reserved for DNFs. This book gets one…for now…

Okay, your turn! Tell me what you thought of this book. Did you love it and think I should give it another shot? Convince me! Or did you dislike it as well? Tell me what bugged you.

2 Responses to “DNF: Life as we Knew It”

I loved this book! In fact it is one that we read with our 7th grade students in English class. Sorry you didn’t like it. I think the “childishness” of the narrator works for this book because of who she is. I liked the first 3 books in the series, the one that just came out this year I didn’t like as much.